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GABRIELA USA Activates Relief Efforts For Families Struck by Flooding in the Philippines

A Southwest monsoon has been unloading torrential rains in Metro Manila and surrounding areas over the past two weeks, causing massive floods especially in urban poor communities. Local media outlets are likening the storms to Typhoon Ondoy, which hit the Philippines in 2009 and claimed the lives of more than 200 people.

In many GABRIELA organizing areas, floodwaters have already reached the second floor of houses, causing the evacuation of thousands of families. PAG-ASA, the local weather station, is forecasting more rains in the next few days. With nonstop downpour and with the dams around Metro-Manila spilling out water, the flooding is expected to worsen. Initial reports from communities that GABRIELA serve calculate at least 6,700 families to be evacuated, with families averaging of 6 members.

GABRIELA USA and its member organizations are activating its “Lingap GABRIELA” relief program to collect monetary donations to provide the swiftest support to affected communities. “It is in times of extreme hardship that our people really show the meaning of lingap or compassion. Our people survive because we help each other, we can count on the compassion of our kababayans to be there” says Valerie Francisco, Chairperson of GABRIELA USA. “We urge all our compatriots and friends to send monetary donations through Lingap GABRIELA, where they can be assured that their contributions will go directly to the communities that need it. Notable individuals like actresses Angel Locsin and Monique Wilson, and athlete Phil Younghusband have already volunteered their time to Lingap GABRIELA relief efforts. We look forward to contributing to these efforts,” Francisco concluded.

As Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino delivers the State of the Nation Address (SONA) today, Filipinos worldwide who have remained vigilant about his administration’s increasing deception in the last two years will hold protest actions to reveal the farce of change, hope, and progress he continues to tout. Filipino-American women in the U.S. in particular will participate in protest activities to combat Aquino’s lies, shed light on the real conditions Filipino women experience, and demand accountability from his administration.

Although Aquino continually uses the language of change, hope, and progress, there have been no concrete results to any of his promises. Instead, Filipino women experience the emptiness of his words through worsening lack of employment, opposition to an increased minimum wage for workers, and the highest rate of poverty in history. Short-term welfare solutions such as the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), funded by loans administered by imperialist institutions like the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), do not address the root causes of such problems. The growth in the economy that Aquino promises does not translate for Filipino women who comprise the majority of OFWs who are forced to leave the Philippines in droves every day to find work abroad. In addition, the Aquino administration has increased privatization of social services, the further corporatization of education by implementing changes for K-12, and supports government-funded demolitions and foreign mining that impede on people’s basic rights to land and life.

As daughters of immigrants and as immigrants ourselves, Filipino-American women know intimately the reasons people are forced to leave their homelands. As citizens of the U.S., we also understand that cuts on social services affect women in a number of ways, which have recently manifested by threats to limit reproductive rights and to limit access to higher education. In addition, our tax dollars–which should be used for education and health –is instead being used to increase U.S. military aid in the Philippines. The U.S. has nearly tripled its military funding to the Philippines due to recent tensions with China.

As these tensions take the main stage in the theatre of imperialism, the plight of Filipino women in the U.S. continue unnoticed, similar to the experiences of our sisters in the Philippines. In April of this year, a Filipino woman named Johanna S. Yalong was found dead with her dog in Vallejo, California due to homelessness and poverty.

As the U.S. chapter of GABRIELA-Philippines, Filipino women and their allies continue to hold Aquino and his regime accountable for all their false promises. Aquino is a puppet to U.S. imperialism and a burden to the people. The women of GABRIELA demand an end to his implementation of anti-people and anti-women policies, as well as Obama’s continued support via U.S. military aid, which is directly linked to the increased number political killings in the Philippines under Aquino’s presidency.

The women of GABRIELA charge the U.S.-Aquino regime for its crimes and deceit against the people. Filipino women will not be deceived by his lies and tactics. A list of protest actions across the US in support of the people’s protest against Aquino’s State of the Nation Address are listed below. For more information contact gabrielawomen.

Charge the Aquino Regime for its crimes and deceit against the people! Advance the strong force of women for livelihood and rights!

NEW YORK CITY:
Monday July 23rd @ 5:30pm
People’s State of the Nation Address for the Philippines
at the Philippine Consulate
556 5th Avenue New York, NY 10036
(bet. 45th St. & 46th St., take the B/D/F/M to 42nd St.- Bryant Park)

SEATTLE:
Monday, July 23rd @ 6:30pm
Community Forum on the Real State of the Nation
Filipino Community Center
5740 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Seattle, WA 98118

BAYAN USA invites you to join the People’s SONA Action to further expose the true nature of the puppet Aquino regime in upholding corruption, human rights violations and bowing down to imperialist demands! Under Aquino’s administration there have been a recorded 76+ extrajudicial killings, a rising cost of electricity and basic living needs and lack of jobs, resulting in an increase in poverty and hunger across the nation.

We call upon Filipinos and Friends in the across the Nation who believe in Human Rights & National Sovereignty to unite for Real Change needed in the Philippines to benefit the 99% of the people!

This means Fighting for National Democracy, National Industrialization, and Genuine Agrarian Reform!

US troops out of the Philippines !

Junk the Visiting Forces Agreement!

No to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement & Increased Militarization in the Asia Pacific!

Justice for the many victims of human rights violations! Justice for Melissa Roxas!

Also, please attend this community build-up event;Friday, July 20th @ 6:00 pm
Community Forum on the State of the Philippines with NAFCON
at the BAYANIHAN Filipino Community Center
40-21 69th St. Woodside, NY 11377

BAYAN USA invites you to join the People’s SONA Action to further expose the true nature of the puppet Aquino regime in upholding corruption, human rights violations and bowing down to imperialist demands! Under Aquino’s administration there have been a recorded 76+ extrajudicial killings, a rising cost of electricity and basic living needs and lack of jobs, resulting in an increase in poverty and hunger across the nation.

We call upon Filipinos and Friends in the across the Nation who believe in Human Rights & National Sovereignty to unite for Real Change needed in the Philippines to benefit the 99% of the people!

This means Fighting for National Democracy, National Industrialization, and Genuine Agrarian Reform!

US troops out of the Philippines !

Junk the Visiting Forces Agreement!

No to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement & Increased Militarization in the Asia Pacific!

Justice for the many victims of human rights violations! Justice for Melissa Roxas!

Also, please attend this community build-up event;Friday, July 20th @ 6:00 pm
Community Forum on the State of the Philippines with NAFCON
at the BAYANIHAN Filipino Community Center
40-21 69th St. Woodside, NY 11377

KATARUNGAN (Justice): A Forum on the Case of Melissa Roxas and the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

BAYAN USA, Kalusugan Coalition, and the National Lawyers Guild kindly invite you to meet Melissa Roxas, a Los Angeles-based community health worker who was the first Filipino-American U.S. citizen to fall victim to and survive enforced disappearance and torture by the Philippine military in 2009. The KATARUNGAN forum will explore the current state of human rights in the Philippines; whether Philippine President Benigno "NoyNoy" Aquino III’s administration improved the human rights situation in the Philippines; and Operation Plan Bayanihan, the government-led counter insurgency operations affecting the lives of the Filipino people.

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Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE NYC) is a mass-based, grassroots women's organization serving New York City and its surrounding areas. We connect the Filipino diaspora to the women's struggle in the Philippines. We are women of Philippine descent, including those who are migrants, immigrants and US-born. We are Filipino women of mixed heritage and adoptees. We are a LGBTIQ-(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer/Questioning) friendly organization, inclusive of transgender people of Philippine descent.
FiRE is a proud member of GABRIELA-USA and BAYAN USA.

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FiRE is a volunteer run organization that relies on its community, please consider donating to us! Any amount is a contribution toward the global militant women's movement! SULONG!